Sahabat Perjuangan Ku

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

LIMA 17 has proud to display the iconic Hornet D from RMAF 18th Squadron that has been served in our country almost 20 years since 1997. This aircraft has done tremendous and successful mission defending our land like OPS Daulat 2013. The Hornet has been upgraded integration of 25x capability.

During this Airshow display, the Hornet D from RMAF show off their new ordnance JDAM and Paveway II.

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

The mission continue with mainline from Hobby Master brand. This time, the Turkish F4E Phantom II aka Terminator on the line.

McDonnell F-4E 77-0308 was originally built in 1977 for the Turkish Air Force as c/n 5030. In the late 1990s Turkey decided to upgrade the F-4E so it would be able to perform the tasks that would be necessary until all the F-4s could be replaced by the F-35 Lightning II by 2020 or later. Extensive modifications were carried out on these aircraft by Israeli Aircraft Industries with the major upgrades being internal, new wiring, computers, radar and new weapons carrying capabilities. The new upgraded aircraft were named F-4E / 2020 “Terminators” and they first entered service on January 27, 2000 with the 111 “Panthers” and 171 Filo. 111 Filo is located at Eskişehir in northwest Turkey.

Final post for today. Another F14 Tomcat from VF103 squadron by HM Brand.

In February 1999 Grumman F-14B Tomcat 163217 joined VF-103 “Jolly Rogers” but in April 2001 it moved to VF-102 until June 2003 when it returned to VF-103. in 2004 this aircraft was the first VF-103 F-14 to receive the new Sparrow Hawk HUD. In 2005 163217 was selected to have the special paint scheme celebrating 60 years of F-14s with VF-103 “Jolly Rogers”. On January 25, 2005 this aircraft was the last F-14 to leave Oceana with the destination of AMARC where it stayed until 2007 when it was scrapped.

As we know The sole foreign customer for the Tomcat was the Imperial Iranian Air Force, during the reign of the last Shah (King) of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In the early 1970s, the Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) was searching for an advanced fighter, specifically one capable of intercepting Soviet MiG-25 reconnaissance flights. After a visit of U.S. President Richard Nixon to Iran in 1972, during which Iran was offered the latest in American military technology, the IIAF narrowed its choice between the F-14 Tomcat or the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. Grumman Corporation arranged a competitive demonstration of the Eagle against the Tomcat before the Shah, and in January 1974, Iran ordered 30 F-14s and 424 AIM-54 Phoenix missiles, initiating Project Persian King, worth US$300 million. A few months later, this order was increased to a total of 80 Tomcats and 714 Phoenix missiles as well as spare parts and replacement engines for 10 years, complete armament package, and support infrastructure (including construction of the Khatami Air Base near Esfahan).

The first F-14 arrived in January 1976, modified only by the removal of classified avionics components, but fitted with the TF-30-414 engines. The following year 12 more were delivered. Meanwhile, training of the first groups of Iranian crews by the U.S. Navy, was underway in the USA; and one of these conducted a successful shoot-down with a Phoenix missile of a target drone flying at 50,000 ft (15 km).

Following the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, the air force was renamed the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) and the post-revolution interim government of Iran canceled most Western arms orders. In 1980, an Iranian F-14 shot down an Iraqi Mil Mi-25 helicopter for its first air-to-air kill during the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988).[2] According to research by Tom Cooper, Iranian F-14s scored at least 50 air-to-air victories in the first six months of the war against Iraqi MiG-21s, MiG-23s, and some Su-20s/22s. During the same time period, only one Iranian F-14 suffered damage after being hit by a nearby MiG-21 when it exploded.

My First Collection on Hobby Master F14 Tomcat series. The Jolly Rogers Squadron always be my favorite squadron to collect especially when the fighter aircraft from this squadron are F14 or F18. I'm already got my first F14A Jolly Rogers from Witty Wings and right now I will continue the series from HM Brand in the future. Due to limited financial budget, I can't affordable myself to buy JR F14A from Century Wings Brand hehehehe.

Here I like to shared the history of this Tomcat in Jolly Rogers Squadron. From 1970 to 1975, VF-84 was assigned to Carrier Air Wing Six aboard the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42) for four deployments to the Mediterranean Sea. Roosevelt's twenty-first Sixth Fleet deployment was marked by indirect participation in the October 1973 Yom Kippur War, as she served as a transit "landing field" for aircraft being delivered to Israel. The Roosevelt battlegroup, Task Force 60.2, also stood by for possible evacuation contingencies. Planes of VF-84 (temporarily assigned to VF-41 for the 1973-74 cruise and operating with VF-41 markings) escorted US transport planes to within 150 miles of Israel during Operation Nickel Grass, the resupply of Israel.

After its transition to the F-14 was completed, the squadron embarked on its first cruise on Nimitz in December 1977. In 1979 the unit was the first TARPS capable squadron of the fleet. In 1980 it participated in the motion picture The Final Countdown which propelled the skull-and-crossbones-adorned F-14's to international stardom. The movie featured a memorable scene involving two VF-84 Tomcats engaging two Japanese A6M Zeros